“It may seem odd that a small and poor country that Canada does not even recognise, located half a world away, would matter in the 2019 Canadian election. Yet Palestine does matter - a lot. It featured in the first leader’s debate, on the second day of the election campaign, as Conservative leader Andrew Scheer promised if elected to follow in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump by cutting aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), arguing that it was a factor in fomenting antisemitism across the Middle East.”

“The Palestinian Authority (PA), which seeks a state in the West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and Gaza as part of any resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, has not hidden its desire to see the back of the Israeli prime minister”

“The programmes of the two major forces competing in Israel’s elections are almost identical. For the Palestinians especially, there’s nothing to hope for”